Ozwald Boateng, one of Britain's leading men's fashion designers, is planning
a major expansion of his business which could see him open as many as 100
stores across the world.

Mr Boateng has held talks with banks and institutional investors about the plans, which could see a £150m investment by 2016.

Each store launch will cost £1.5m on average and will be planned and funded under a joint-venture or franchise model.

The move will be a major boost for the UK's luxury brand sector. Mr Boateng runs his successful retail business from his menswear shop on Savile Row, London, and played a significant role in revolutionising men's fashion when he first launched in the 1990s.

Celebrity clients include Jude Law, Herbie Hancock and Mick Jagger.

Mr Boateng said he now wants to emulate Tom Ford and fashion leader Louis Vuitton which have become global brands with carefully planned expansions, often via joint ventures.

He is already planning a new store in London, possibly in the Sloane Street area, to open in the next 12 months. A site in Paris is also being investigated.

"The plan is [to open] between 50 to 100 stores," Mr Boateng told The Sunday Telegraph. "As much as I am being very bullish, there are other brands you can use as an example of how to do it right.

"You go slow in the first year, you go slowish in the second year but in your third, fourth and fifth year you are really going for it.

"The key here is perfecting the model. When you have done that the roll out plan is self-explanatory. The question is does your model work?"

Mr Boateng said that his business prospered despite the downturn by withdrawing from the wholesale and licensing markets and focusing wholly on retail which has far better margins.

He argued that there were significant opportunities for luxury fashion brands in emerging markets and that his team had spent the time since the financial crisis ensuring the Boateng retail model of bespoke and high-end off the peg clothing worked.

A strategic and operational review for the Ozwald Boateng holding company reveals sales growth of 15pc at the Savile Row store in 2010.

"The consistent growth demonstrates that the brand has a retail formula which works well to achieve maximum square footage turnover,” the review says.

Under the new plan, profit before tax and interest should rise from £1.2m in year one to £71.7m in year five. Return on investment by year seven could total 82pc, the document says.

“We get all the institutional funding in place by the first half of 2012 and then there is nothing stopping us from getting the stores open,” Mr Boateng said.

“It is a question of location, partners, environment – the focus of the expansion plan is emerging markets. We’re going where the going is good. There is also definitely room for another store in London and another store in Paris.”

Asked if there was enough appreciation in the UK of the importance of the fashion sector, Mr Boateng said: “No. It is a very important business.

“Britain’s business is brand and service and creativity. If you don’t get behind that and finance that properly, you have a big issue. We tend to be leaders in those fields but there is not enough appreciation or understanding of the value of that business.”

He pointed out that the richest man in Europe, Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH, made his money from fashion.

When he started his business in the early 1990s, Mr Boateng took the traditional route of launching wholesale and licensing operations as well as having a retail element. Although wholesale and licensing were successful from a revenue point of view – bringing in the majority of sales – profit margins were much lower.

When the Japanese banking crisis hit, Mr Boateng’s business suffered. He had seven stores in the country and admitted that he had been inexperienced when he set them up and had become too distant.

“It taught me a lot,” he said of the collapse. “Since then there has always been a level of caution about development.

“It took me a while to appreciate the power of my retail [operation].”